Planning and Evaluation in the Australian Archives: A Case Study
| Date | 01 January 1991 |
| Published date | 01 January 1991 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb027057 |
| Pages | 5-16 |
| Author | Sam Skrzypek,Malcolm Holmes,Stein Helgeby |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Planning and Evaluation in the Australian
Archives:
A Case Study
Sam Skrzypek, Malcolm Holmes and Stein Helgeby
Introduction - A Context for Change
Australia was only one of the many countries to embark on a major program of
management reform during the 1980s. A particular feature of the Australian
approach was the attention given to the balance between aggregate budgetary
control and performance at the organisational and program level.1 This
emphasis reflected a perception that many overseas reform efforts had failed
because they emphasised one of these elements, often at the expense of the
other. Creating and maintaining an aggregate control framework which
encourages improved organisational and program performance remains an
ongoing challenge.
The relationship between the two levels of change has been essential to
reform in the Commonwealth Government. To manage reduced funds in a
climate of overall fiscal restraint, managers were forced to review their
priorities and goals. Many organisations went through extensive periods of
questioning why their organisation existed and whether it was achieving those
aims in the best possible way.
In turn, the focus on results to be achieved by management helped to
maintain attention on the consequences of expenditure restraint in particular
program areas. Demonstrably inadequate programs could more easily be
highlighted when it came time to review priorities and levels of expenditure. At
the same time, programs of a truly high priority could be better designed and
appropriately funded, enabling the Labor Government of the time to pursue its
social goals while restraining the overall size of the public sector for economic
reasons. One of the most telling trends of the 1980s was the capacity of the
Government to both better target, and increase, welfare funding while overall
outlays declined. (In relation to GDP, Commonwealth Government outlays
declined by more than 6%, from 30.0% in 1984-5 to 23.6% in 1989-90.)
Within the overall climate of restraint, public sector organisations embarked
on a long, and steep, learning curve to enable them to manage their resources
more effectively and strategically. During this period there was substantial
devolution from the centre in the financial management and personnel areas,
giving organisations much greater flexibility to develop their own response to
those challenges. The keys to success have included the development of linked
layers of planning, which enable managers to focus on different levels of needs
and purpose. A second feature of successful organisations has been their
capacity to link each feature of a simple management cycle to each other; the
basic elements of this cycle are planning, resourcing, implementation (in-
cluding monitoring) and evaluation.
5
To continue reading
Request your trial